EUGENE, Ore. – The Northwest Christian Men's Basketball team remained undefeated on Monday night but they had to work for it, fighting off Simpson University for a 78-72 victory.
 
The Beacons (5-0) shot 51% in the contest but couldn't get rid of the Red Hawks who remained in the game until the final minutes. Simpson finished the night shooting 47% and were fueled by a combined 45 points from Josh Brakkee and Jacob Kaler.
 
Northwest Christian owned a 30-29 lead at the intermission after trading leads with Simpson eight times over the first 20 minutes. After Simpson took a brief 35-34 lead with just over 16 minutes to play, the Beacons answered with a 9-0 run to push its lead to eight points, and the Red Hawks played from behind the rest of the way. SU cut the lead to a single point at 6:57, but again NCU answered with a quick 5-0 spurt to keep the hosts at arm's length. A Red Hawk three-pointer with 42 seconds remaining made it a one-possession game, but three straight free throws by the Beacons closed out the game.
 
NCU was led by Jay Mayernik, coming off the bench to score 18 points and ten rebounds. The junior was a season-best 8-for-12 at the free-throw line, a lone bright spot at the charity stripe for the Beacons, who shot 14-for-30 as a team. Jack Hackman and Austin Kuemper (pictured) added 14 points apiece in the win.
 
Kaler led all scorers for the Red Hawks (2-6) as he posted 26 points including 11-for-13 at the free-throw line. Brakkee added 19 points and 11 rebounds, along with a game-high seven steals.
 
The Beacons will remain in Northern California, traveling to Atherton to face Menlo College (3-2) on Wednesday night at 7:30 pm.